Howdy folks! The day has finally come. It has taken years of learning and growth for the Doc and I, but all of that effort has now enabled us to offer the best possible version of the sleep supplement we’ve been talking about for years. If you’ve listened to Doc and me on my podcast, you probably know that we recommend a lot of the same stuff, but we came about it from different ends of the puzzle.
Doc developed this all-inclusive sleep formulation while working with some really hard charging guys and gals. You’ll see many familiar ingredients in the product, but the magic comes from getting the right quantities and bio-availability dialed in. You’ll see for yourself: it’s dialed in TIGHT!
I’ve been beating the nutrition drum for well over a decade, and reminding everyone how important sleep is. Doc has been beating the sleep drum for about the same amount of time and reminding everybody how important nutrition is. We agree on these being the top two priorities, and even the nutrition guy (me) will tell you that people who sleep well are harder to kill.
I mean that in every way. Deep sleep is when your muscles get bigger and stronger. It’s also when your immune function is at its peak, and you’re repairing all of the damage you’ve done to your body.
During other stages of sleep your brain is getting smarter. You’re making sense out of any new material you’ve learned that day. You’re adding that to old material, and making new connections. Any physical skill that you’ve learned that day is becoming hard wired in as “muscle memory”.
So, it really doesn’t matter if you’re memorizing biochemistry, trying to build a company, shooting for a double-bodyweight clean, or learning a brand new move. Getting quality sleep is a big part of the equation. Regardless if you are trying to reduce inflammation or working diligently at leaning out or bulking up, or generally chasing after epic performance at anything, sleep like you mean it folks!
If you’ve already drank the Kool-aid and you’re sleeping like a log 7-9 hours per night, good on ya. But, if you’re like most folks that treat sleep like the red-headed step child, do yourself a favor and go check out Doc’s formulation here.
Most of you probably realize how difficult it is to find a quality supplement of any kind. Doc Parsley has had his SEALs buy various combinations of products to approximate this sleep cocktail. Doc was frustrated at how expensive this was for the SEALs (usually over $120/month), and the quality (as measured by serum labs) was hit or miss. So, we have been on a mission to rectify this situation. It turns out that it’s impossible to make a great quality product cheaply, but the Doc has done a great job of not only sourcing the best ingredients, manufacturers, and quality control, he has also managed to keep the product completely affordable for the masses.
We have done our best to make enough to supply the SEALs, law enforcement, fire, and shift workers that follow our work, but there is a real chance that we might sell out before we can make more of the product. Not a smarmy used car salesmen line, but I do encourage you to order early, if you really want to try the product.
Please give us feedback on your experience. We have deliberately started out small enough to be able to change things quickly—by listening to your feedback.
As part of our product launch, the good doc and I will be pumping out a great blog series on all things sleep related. How to do it better, decreasing inflammation, improving performance and optimizing health. The blog series will be on my site and the doc’s.
So, click here to optimize your sleep, and become the unstoppable beast you’re meant to be.
(*The good doc and I are offering our community a discount of 10% — just enter “robbwolf” into the discount code section of the online cart.)
Remember, with great sleep comes great opportunities—or something like that. I’m sure that’s a movie quote, but I’m not sure from where?
I’m not a fan of proprietary mixtures that don’t tell me exacy how much I’m ingesting of each ingredient. Also not a fan of oral d3 or mag citrate (i use topical mag and get all my d3 via light or normal foods)
I am very interested in the other parts of this formula, but would like to know exact amounts so i can see how they interact with everything else in my life.
Hey amigo-
Doc has fiddled the formulation with the SEALS a ton, so there is a decent amount of work that went into that. One well known supplement company that we talked to a bout white labeling has subsequently come out with a similar product…so, proprietary it will remain, for now.
I too am not a fan of D3 in this form. Our ideal is a liquid d3 (typically with K2 and possibly vit-A) but that would make a product like we ahve here impossible…so some of the real-world considerations place constraints on what i think we could all agree would be optimal. We may shift to a Mg orotate at some point. Absorption is better but we get very good results from this, so we shall see. One nit I will pick however: I have never found a SINGLE research refrence demonstrating that topically applied magnesium improves serum or tissue magnesium levels. Not one. I have found a few randomized (double blind) controlled studies where topical magnesium was applied to folks. None have shown any therapeutic benefit nor any alteration in tissue Mg levels. So, with respect, but the topical Mg seems like the pinnacle of pseudo-science. The best i cold give it is that possibly it affects some kind of surface electircal conductance which might have some kind of benefits…but that is not what is being claimed with this stuff and even that would be a remarkable stretch.
Topical magnesium sent my body levels of magnesium off the charts, as proven both by hair analysis as well as sending my sleep into the most amazing place it’s been in my life. And many people report similar effects. I don’t see how you can knock it based on unprecedented results. Seems like you haven’t tried it. You can get your own labs without relying on some outside study.
I have clearly pissed a lot of people off with this! I’ve tried it, had no effects. If it’s working for you, that’s fantastic. Someone asked my opinion on this and i gave my best informed position on the topic. I’d love to be proven wrong…
You don’t even LIST the ingredients in your product, so how do we know there are scientific studies done on them?
Yes, we do, it’s not on the front page, fixing that:
http://www.sleepcocktails.com/products/doc-parsleys-sleep-cocktail
Red headed step child?
I told Doc Parsley “Somone will complain about that line.”
I was right! Thanks for keeping my track record near 100% on predictive value.
Hey, I’m a a natural redhead and I am NOT offended by that saying. I think it’s great, Robb, that you weren’t concerned about using that phrase. People need to chill out! It is an old saying and makes a good point. Get over it!
I’m a partial ginger, (so is Doc Parsley) so I think that gives us the street cred to use it! Thanks DaintyD!!
Ordered some.
Looking forward to trying it and getting more consistent Z time. Took me 48 years to figure out my MTHFR missing link. That helped a ton, but i still suffer wild inconsistency in patterns.
Keep me posted!
“I have never found a SINGLE research reference demonstrating that topically applied magnesium improves serum or tissue magnesium levels. Not one. I have found a few randomized (double blind) controlled studies where topical magnesium was applied to folks. None have shown any therapeutic benefit nor any alteration in tissue Mg levels. So, with respect, but the topical Mg seems like the pinnacle of pseudo-science.”
That’s good to hear Robb because I couldn’t find a skerrick of info on transdermal absorption of Mg worth two shakes. There is an unpublished research report on Epsom salt baths but it is shaky at best. I had a chin wag with my local pharmacist and he was very skeptical about the transdermal absorption vector too and is far keener on an amino acid chelated form of Mg. Plus that MgCl burns like a mofo if you have a scratch or graze.
As a natural born ginga (now ‘auburn’ but approaching ‘silver’), as they say Down Under, I snorted loudly. Wear that 100% badge proudly.
Keep up the good fight Robb and see you in New Zealand soon. How come the Doc is coming you aren’t? Life’s unfair sometimes ain’t it. 😉
Docs kids are grown, mine are not! We may still do it…but given that this is a sleep thread, i shudder to think what going around the world will do for the kids sleep. And mine! On the magnesium, some folks produced like 2 studies that seems to indicate some transdermal movement of magnesium. Seems like complete BS to me, but maybe I’m wrong.
Not sure if you caught the Poliquin episode on Tim Ferriss’ podcast (22/07 warning: it’s long – 2:49:37!) Starting at 2:14 https://overcast.fm/+BmGU4z-Io/2:14:16
he mentioned different tissue affinities for different sources of magnesium. Mg Glycinate -> liver/muscle; Mg Orotate -> vascular system; Mg Threonate -> GABA inducer therefore useful as a sleep inducer.
Will have a nosey around for some references…
CP suggested 4gm for males, 2.4gm for females.
All this is oral supplementation, still looking for the transdermal absorption studies…
I did catch that…some of CP’s stuff is genius, some of it I scratch my head on. Not sure what to make of this.
Hey Robb, Big fan here. Im interested in this, but have been taking natural calm for years. If I buy this, should I continue my natural calm as usual? Or completely stop that and use this exclusively?
Thanks.
NC should be fine with this, I’d tinker both with and without and see which you like best.
Howdy Rob!,
Being a Texas A&M grad I had to reply. Very interested in this product as I am playing in the sandbox again and my 40 year old body is not adjusting like it should. Inconsistent sleep is breaking down the body and mental resiliency. Hope to have some good feedback since 95% of your advice has done wonders.
Keep me posted, YOU are the reason we put this together.
Interesting product! What is the rationale behind putting melatonin in the formula? You mention it is a very small amount, but as you know, very small amounts of hormone are powerful and can lead to resistance. Can you say what order of magnitude it occurs in – micrograms, milligrams?
Why did you choose magnesium citrate over magnesium glycinate – cost? Again I don’t know how many milligrams is in your formula, but magnesium citrate can be a pretty strong laxative.
Hopefully you can share the exact amounts in the future, as I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking it without this information, especially due to the presence of melatonin.
Lauren-
Melatonin is in micrograms, it is well below what would be produced under normal circumstance.
Folks get their britches bunched over mag citrate, but the absorption curve is non-linear: high at low doses, low at high doses. The reason why we have used it is “it works” but we may switch to an orotate form just to quiet the unruly masses and not need to do a short course on pharmacokinetics daily.
We are working on validation processes within a clinical medical setting…so we will NOT be releasing the full formula anytime soon, if ever. Your call on if you want to give it a shot.
Hey Robb….I’m a fan…..thanks for all the great information you provide. Re: this sleep supplement: I always steer away from “natural flavors” and “natural colors”…..I’ve done some digging into what these are and many times they are chemicals of some sort. Any feedback on this?
Rebecca!
first, thanks for the kind words. As a chemist i see everything as either matter or energy, if it’s matter, it’s made of “chemicals.” i think your point here is some synthetic chemicals can be pretty nasty, which is totally true. In the case of the sleep cocktail we have naturally derived flavors…they come from apple and cinnamon, has a little stevia to sweeten it. So, this is a pretty “clean” product as far as all that goes. let me know fi this helps!
Hi Robb, thanks for all the useful and practical info about sleep. I think it is important to add that some sleep problems need more than Doc Parsley’s excellent tea and strong sleep hygiene practices. I am a slender 50YO female half marathoner (and 30+ year runner). For several years I’d felt unrefreshed by sleep despite getting to bed early enough for 7-8 hours. Turns out I have mild (hah!) obstructive sleep apnea. My airway was collapsing 6-7 times/hour but I didn’t know it because I seldom woke up enough to be conscious of it. So anyone out there who is truly doing their best to get enough sleep and it still isn’t working may want to get a sleep study. Red flags include feeling chronically unrested (not necessarily sleepy), being middle-aged, HA1C tests showing pre-diabetic or diabetic ranges (chronic disrupted or insufficient sleep screws up glucose metabolism) and a snorer. In my case, I have a small mouth/face and large tongue that contributed to the problem. Some dentists are trained to assess mouth issues that can casue or contribute to sleep disordered breathing…. OSA is easy to diagnose via a sleep study and the treatment is positive airway pressure. I feel so much better now that I’m getting treatment and actually sleeping instead of choking the night away. To your health!
I am so glad you tracked this down! And thank you for sharing, this will help people.
Hi Robb,
Justine kicking the can along the road on the transdermal Mg piece. Here’s a page with all that’s been done to date: https://betteryou.com/evidence-transdermal-magnesium-absorption